The flame of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be handed over this Friday to the French organizers during a ceremony in Athens, before boarding the three-masted Belem on Saturday to reach Marseille. A symbol of unity and peace, the flame, lit on April 16 in the ancient Greek site of Olympia, must be transmitted after its arrival at 6:30 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. GMT) at the Panathenaic Stadium in the center of the Greek capital, according to the official program of the organizers.
Before that, the flame made a stop in the morning at the emblematic place of Marathon, some 42 km from Athens, after having traveled 5,000 km across Greece since its lighting, relayed by 600 people on islands and archaeological sites, including the Rock of the Acropolis of Athens.
The Papadakis-Hess duo selected to carry the flame to the Panathenaic Stadium
A duo of French champions, composed of ice dance skater Gabriella Papadakis, gold medalist at the Beijing Games in 2022, as well as former Paralympic swimmer Béatrice Hess, was chosen to carry the flame during the last meters relay at the Panathenaic Stadium.
Gabriella Papadakis and Béatrice Hess will be accompanied by two Greek athletes, the walking specialist and double European champion Antigoni Ntrismpioti, and the captain of the Greek water polo team, Ioannis Fountoulis, silver medalist at the Olympic Games. Tokyo in 2021. It is the latter who will light the cauldron and close the 11 days of relay in Greece.
In the historic enclosure of the Panathenaic Stadium which hosted the first Olympic Games of the modern era in 1896, the flame will be handed over to Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris Games organizing committee (Cojo) by Spyros Capralos, president of the committee Greek Olympic Games. Greek singer Nana Mouskouri is to perform the French and Greek anthems. The French Minister of Sports and Olympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, and Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor of Paris, will attend this ceremony which should end around 7:25 p.m. local time. The flame must then reach the large port of Piraeus, near Athens, and will board the three-masted Belem on Saturday bound for Marseille.
150,000 people are expected to welcome the flame in Marseille
Some 150,000 people are expected to welcome it on May 8, and French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin indicated on Friday that 6,000 members of the police would be mobilized to secure the event, as many as in September 2023. for the visit of Pope Francis to the second largest city in France. That day, the flame will enter France through Massalia, founded by the Greeks in 600 BC, Samia Ghali, deputy mayor of Marseille, said on April 16.
Before entering the Old Port, the Belem will parade in the harbor of Marseille and will be accompanied by 1,024 boats. Entertainment is planned on land and at sea all day long. “We have calibrated things to accommodate 150,000 people in an area including the Old Port, the end of the Canebière – emblematic artery of the center of Marseille – the Pharo gardens (dominating the Old Port) or the Place aux Huiles” , also in the center, explained Samia Ghali. The evening will end with a concert by Marseille rappers Soprano and Alonzo.
The Old Port like the Corniche will be 100% pedestrian, “there will be searches at all entrances,” said Samia Ghali. On May 9, the flame will begin its journey in France, with visits to the Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica or the Stade Vélodrome. It will then cross the country, also passing through the Antilles and French Polynesia, to arrive in Paris on the day of the opening ceremony of the Games, July 26, an event which will be held until August 11 in a marked international climate notably by the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
From Athens, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra also underlined that “up to 45,000” members of the police would be deployed for the opening ceremony in Paris, with the participation of 2,000 police officers from abroad including 13 Greeks”. Ten to 13 million spectators are expected in Paris for the Games, according to the minister. The minister also hoped, during a press briefing, that “these Games will enable the emergence of a new standard in “organization of major sporting events”. She recalled that these Olympic Games would be the first in history “ecological, equal and decentralized”, with events in 73 communities.